Thanksgiving: The National
Day of MourningText of 1970 Speech by Wampsutta, an
Aquinnah Wampanoag Elder

Frank James (1923 -
February 20, 2001)
was known to the Wampanoag people as Wampsutta, In 1970, the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts invited him to speak at Plymouth's
annual Thanksgiving feast. When the text of Mr. Jamesí speech was revealed
before dinner, Massachusetts "disinvited" him.

Wampsutta refused to revise his speech and
left the event. He went to the hill near the statue of the
Massasoit, the Wampanoag leader during the Pilgrims' arrival in
1620. There, overlooking Plymouth Harbor and the replica of the
Mayflower, Frank James recited the speech that Massachusetts
Commonwealth had refused to hear:

"I speak to you as a man -- a Wampanoag Man. I am a proud man, proud of my
ancestry, my accomplishments won by a strict parental direction ("You must
succeed - your face is a different color in this small Cape Cod community!"). I
am a product of poverty and discrimination from these two social and economic
diseases. I, and my brothers and sisters, have painfully overcome, and to some
extent we have earned the respect of our community. We are Indians first - but
we are termed "good citizens." Sometimes we are arrogant but only because
society has pressured us to be so.

"It is with mixed emotion that I stand here to share my thoughts. This is a time
of celebration for you - celebrating an anniversary of a beginning for the white
man in America. A time of looking back, of reflection. It is with a heavy heart
that I look back upon what happened to my People.

"Even before the Pilgrims landed it was common practice for explorers to capture
Indians, take them to Europe and sell them as slaves for 220 shillings apiece.
The Pilgrims had hardly explored the shores of Cape Cod for four days before
they had robbed the graves of my ancestors and stolen their corn and beans.
Mourt's Relation describes a searching party of sixteen men. Mourt goes on to
say that this party took as much of the Indians' winter provisions as they were
able to carry.

"Massasoit, the great Sachem of the Wampanoag, knew these facts, yet he and his
People welcomed and befriended the settlers of the Plymouth Plantation. Perhaps
he did this because his Tribe had been depleted by an epidemic. Or his knowledge
of the harsh oncoming winter was the reason for his peaceful acceptance of these
acts. This action by Massasoit was perhaps our biggest mistake. We, the
Wampanoag, welcomed you, the white man, with open arms, little knowing that it
was the beginning of the end; that before 50 years were to pass, the Wampanoag
would no longer be a free people.

What happened in those short 50 years? What has happened in the last 300 years?
History gives us facts and there were atrocities; there were broken promises -
and most of these centered around land ownership. Among ourselves we understood
that there were boundaries, but never before had we had to deal with fences and
stone walls. But the white man had a need to prove his worth by the amount of
land that he owned. Only ten years later, when the Puritans came, they treated
the Wampanoag with even less kindness in converting the souls of the so-called
"savages." Although the Puritans were harsh to members of their own society, the
Indian was pressed between stone slabs and hanged as quickly as any other
"witch."

"And so down through the years there is record after record of Indian lands taken
and, in token, reservations set up for him upon which to live. The Indian,
having been stripped of his power, could only stand by and watch while the white
man took his land and used it for his personal gain. This the Indian could not
understand; for to him, land was survival, to farm, to hunt, to be enjoyed. It
was not to be abused. We see incident after incident, where the white man sought
to tame the "savage" and convert him to the Christian ways of life. The early
Pilgrim settlers led the Indian to believe that if he did not behave, they would
dig up the ground and unleash the great epidemic again.

"The white man used the Indian's nautical skills and abilities. They let him be
only a seaman -- but never a captain. Time and time again, in the white man's
society, we Indians have been termed "low man on the totem pole."

"Has the Wampanoag really disappeared? There is still an aura of mystery. We know
there was an epidemic that took many Indian lives - some Wampanoags moved west
and joined the Cherokee and Cheyenne. They were forced to move. Some even went
north to Canada! Many Wampanoag put aside their Indian heritage and accepted the
white man's way for their own survival. There are some Wampanoag who do not wish
it known they are Indian for social or economic reasons.

"What happened to those Wampanoags who chose to remain and live among the early
settlers? What kind of existence did they live as "civilized" people? True,
living was not as complex as life today, but they dealt with the confusion and
the change. Honesty, trust, concern, pride, and politics wove themselves in and
out of their [the Wampanoags'] daily living. Hence, he was termed crafty,
cunning, rapacious, and dirty.

"History wants us to believe that the Indian was a savage, illiterate,
uncivilized animal. A history that was written by an organized, disciplined
people, to expose us as an unorganized and undisciplined entity. Two distinctly
different cultures met. One thought they must control life; the other believed
life was to be enjoyed, because nature decreed it. Let us remember, the Indian
is and was just as human as the white man. The Indian feels pain, gets hurt, and
becomes defensive, has dreams, bears tragedy and failure, suffers from
loneliness, needs to cry as well as laugh. He, too, is often misunderstood.

"The white man in the presence of the Indian is still mystified by his uncanny
ability to make him feel uncomfortable. This may be the image the white man has
created of the Indian; his "savageness" has boomeranged and isn't a mystery; it
is fear; fear of the Indian's temperament!

"High on a hill, overlooking the famed Plymouth Rock, stands the statue of our
great Sachem, Massasoit. Massasoit has stood there many years in silence. We the
descendants of this great Sachem have been a silent people. The necessity of
making a living in this materialistic society of the white man caused us to be
silent. Today, I and many of my people are choosing to face the truth. We ARE
Indians!

"Although time has drained our culture, and our language is almost extinct, we
the Wampanoags still walk the lands of Massachusetts. We may be fragmented, we
may be confused. Many years have passed since we have been a people together.
Our lands were invaded. We fought as hard to keep our land as you the whites did
to take our land away from us. We were conquered, we became the American
prisoners of war in many cases, and wards of the United States Government, until
only recently.

"Our spirit refuses to die. Yesterday we walked the woodland paths and sandy
trails. Today we must walk the macadam highways and roads. We are uniting We're
standing not in our wigwams but in your concrete tent. We stand tall and proud,
and before too many moons pass we'll right the wrongs we have allowed to happen
to us.

"We forfeited our country. Our lands have fallen into the hands of the aggressor.
We have allowed the white man to keep us on our knees. What has happened cannot
be changed, but today we must work towards a more humane America, a more Indian
America, where men and nature once again are important; where the Indian values
of honor, truth, and brotherhood prevail.

"You the white man are celebrating an anniversary. We the Wampanoags will help
you celebrate in the concept of a beginning. It was the beginning of a new life
for the Pilgrims. Now, 350 years later it is a beginning of a new determination
for the original American: the American Indian.

"There are some factors concerning the Wampanoags and other Indians across this
vast nation. We now have 350 years of experience living amongst the white man.
We can now speak his language. We can now think as a white man thinks. We can
now compete with him for the top jobs. We're being heard; we are now being
listened to. The important point is that along with these necessities of
everyday living, we still have the spirit, we still have the unique culture, we
still have the will and, most important of all, the determination to remain as
Indians. We are determined, and our presence here this evening is living
testimony that this is only the beginning of the American Indian, particularly
the Wampanoag, to regain the position in this country that is rightfully ours."